GERMANY Cat. 99: Carneval. [c.1834-1838]. Hand-coloured lithograph Accordion-folding peepshow with five cut-out panels. The front-face, measuring 140 x 230 mm, forms the lid of the shallow cartonnage box containing the peepshow. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 560 mm. Peepshow showing a winter festival. The item is overlaid with red paper. The sides of the box are overlaid with pattern paper. White sugar paper is pasted on the reverse. The front-face design consists of the title, a view through three arches of the procession with participants and spectators, and three peep-holes, a large one in the centre and a small one on either side. Within the peepshow the cut-out panels are numbered at top right 2-5.
Viewing through the central peep-hole reveals a long flag-bedecked street with the procession winding from one side of the street to the other, wending its way from the back to the front. The spectators view the procession from the roofs of the arcades. Viewing through the small peep-holes reveals the scene down the long arcades. The colouring of the walls of the buildings in the peep, in particular the use of a bright green, is characteristic of several JMB peepshows including Cat. 89 and Cat. 118. Many of the participants are on horseback or are being conveyed on sleighs. The composition adopted is that of Martin Engelbrecht’s ‘Perspektivische Vorstellung des Februars’ (ref.6P). It is unlikely to represent a specific town. February is the month of carnival. For listing of smaller French ‘Optique’ of Paris Carnival see No. 340 in Sporting and Colored Plate Books Original Drawings First Editions… collected by the late George C Smith Jr. (New York: Art Association/Anderson Galleries 1937). KS c.1834-1838
Cat. 99. Expanded.
133